Investing in
women’s health
innovations
A high-growth investment opportunity
We aim to transform women’s health by investing in groundbreaking health solutions while achieving exceptional financial returns.
As part of our investment approach, we created the three-category framework that defines women’s health as conditions appearing only in women, mostly in women, and differently in women.
First published in 2019 as part of the FemHealth Framework (© 2019 FemHealth Ventures), this concept has since been widely adopted across the industry, and we are excited to see its growing impact in advancing innovation and improving outcomes for women.
Only
in Women
Some conditions appear only in women.
Examples include:
endometriosis
polycystic ovarian syndrome
cervical cancer
Mostly
in Women
Some conditions appear mostly in women.
Examples include:
breast cancer
lupus
multiple sclerosis
Differently
in Women
Some conditions appear differently in women.
Examples include:
heart disease
diabetes
asthma
© 2019 FemHealth Ventures
Every cell
has a sex
A universe of possibilities is opened in women’s health when we start with the most basic building block: our cells.
Each of the 30 trillion cells in a woman’s body has a different chromosomal makeup than a man.
For example, a skin cell from a woman will have XX chromosomes, but a skin cell from a man will have XY chromosomes. This difference between women and men holds true throughout every single cell in the body.
As a result, even the same disease can present differently in women versus men and require distinct treatment paradigms.
Women’s health is more than “bikini medicine.”
The term “bikini medicine” generally refers to conditions treated by obstetricians or gynecologists.
We’ve (re)imagined women’s health as a broad spectrum of conditions that can impact the whole body, ranging from ovarian cancer, to autoimmune disease, to cardiovascular disease, and everything in between.
A multitude of possibilities for innovation in women’s health exist. And we are here to help bring them to life.
Untapped opportunity
MARKET
50%
of global healthcare customers are women
(Frost & Sullivan)
MOMENTUM
$500B
annual medical expense attributed to women’s healthcare
(PitchBook)
MAGNITUDE
>4000
women’s health deals closed
(PitchBook)
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